A quilt is a padded needlework covering made of at least three layers of fabric. Silk, cotton, wool or a similar fabric may be used for the front and back layers. The interlining (middle layer) may be of wool, cotton, or kapok. Quilting is usually used for bed coverings. When a quilt is sewed together, the three layers are usually stretched over a quilting frame to keep the fabrics smooth and in shape. The stitches follow a designed marked on the top layer. Small stitches are used so that the interlining will not slip. The edges are bound with bias strips or cloth.
Colorful geometric or floral patterns may decorate the top of a quilt. Two common methods of design are piecing and appliqué. The top of a pieced quilt is made of many small pieces of fabric sewed or pieced together to form a pattern. A jumble of odd-shaped patches haphazardly sewed together forms a “crazy quilt”. In an appliqued quilt, cutout cloth designs are sewed or embroidered on the quilt top.
Although a large proportion of quilting that is currently performed both commercially and in the home is through the use of a sewing machine, there are still a large number of hand-sewn quilts. These types of hand sewing activities are extremely tedious. In addition, hand sewing is virtually impossible for persons with visual handicaps. Those with some sight can use a magnifying glass, for example, but those with very limited or no sight are precluded from hand sewing in general.
A conventional quilt making process comprises four basic steps: 1) cutting squares, 2) designing the layout of squares, 3) sewing the squares together to create quilt layers and 4) quilting the layers together. In the quilting process, the quilt is pieced from individually cut squares of fabric. A typical quilt can be 5 feet by 5 feet with a total of 169 square pieces. The squares are cut from various pieces of fabric. After cutting the squares, the quilt maker lays out the squares of fabric to form the design of the quilt in a variety of ways. The maker can lay out the squares on a large surface and carefully arrange them in any desired pattern. This method of laying out squares is tedious but can yield a very even distribution of the different fabrics through the quilt. The third step is sewing the squares together. This sewing step comprises two basic steps: 1) sew squares together with a seam allowance to form strips of squares; and 2) sew strips of squares together along their long sides to form a surface. Many quilters consider this to be the most important step of their quilting.
The fourth step is to assemble the layers of the quilt and sew through them. In this step, first lay out the quilt backing, right side down. On top of the quilt backing, lay out the batting. On top of the batting, lay out the pieced top, right side up. Align it to the backing if desired. Ideally, there should be several inches of both backing and batting sticking out from under the pieced top on all sides. Pin with safety pins through all layers of the quilt. The recommendation is to place a minimum of one safety pin in the center of every third square of every third row. Better, place a safety pin in the center of each square. The more pins you have in the quilt, the more stable the layers are together, and the fewer problems the whole thing will give you in the quilting process.
In the assembling step, the task of pinning the layers is a tedious ordeal. The quilt maker individually marks the locations and applies the pin at that location. Many times it is necessary to measure each pin location before applying the pins. There remains a need for a device that can simplify the process of identifying the locations for pins during the process of assembling the layers of a quilt.